Issues of concern to people who live in the west: property rights, water rights, endangered species, livestock grazing, energy production, wilderness and western agriculture. Plus a few items on western history, western literature and the sport of rodeo... Frank DuBois served as the NM Secretary of Agriculture from 1988 to 2003. DuBois is a former legislative assistant to a U.S. Senator, a Deputy Assistant Secretary of Interior, and is the founder of the DuBois Rodeo Scholarship.

Thursday, January 21, 2016

Oregon governor to feds: End occupation at wildlife refuge

Oregon Gov. Kate Brown has had enough.
Brown publicly vented her frustration Wednesday with the armed group of protesters who've taken over a federal wildlife refuge in Harney County, in the southeastern corner of her state. But she's also fed up with federal officials' response to the occupation and urged them to put an end to it.
"The residents of Harney County have been overlooked and underserved by federal officials' response thus far," Brown said during a news conference. "This spectacle of lawlessness must end. And until Harney County is free of it I will not stop insisting that federal officials enforce the law." And keeping an eye on the occupiers apparently isn't cheap. The price tag on the nearly three-week-old occupation is costing Oregon about $100,000 a week, Brown said. She wants reimbursement from the federal government for those mounting costs.
Kristen Grainger, Brown's director of communications, said costs related to the occupation included everything from bringing in extra law enforcement to food. "In order to maintain public safety ... multiple local law enforcement
entities from around the state, as well as Oregon State Police Troopers,
are coordinating with the Harney County sheriff to provide additional
officers," Grainger said in the statement. "The estimate of $100,000 a
week represents the costs of labor, including overtime, travel
reimbursement, lodging and meals for the officers."...more

Who has jurisdiction here? For things like theft and trespass I'll bet the state does. If Gov. Brown is really upset, why doesn't she take action? Like in so many things, it appears she has ceded authority to the feds.